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Buddy breaks drought against Lions

Laine Clark

In what has the makings of a trivia night question, $10 million man Lance Franklin picked an unlikely location to kick his first goal for Sydney in a 12.14 (86) to 8.11 (59) AFL practice match win over Brisbane on Saturday.

A world away from Sydney, "Buddy" Franklin brought the vocal crowd at AFL outpost Burpengary, 40km north of Brisbane, to their feet when he finally broke his goal-scoring duck for the Swans.

But for a moment, the 6000-plus crowd appeared to have also witnessed Sydney's worst nightmare when Franklin was rested from the second half with a knee complaint.

However, Swans coach John Longmire said Franklin - who finished with two goals and eight touches - would play next Saturday's season opener against Greater Western Sydney.

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"He's fine for next week. It's just a knee cork. He was just a bit sore when he cooled down at halftime ... so we just decided to finish him up," he said.

"He looked in reasonable touch but he was just a bit sore in the (halftime) warm-ups."

In contrast, Lions veteran forward Jonathan Brown is in doubt for their round-one clash against Hawthorn on March 22 after making little impact in his first-half cameo.

The ex-skipper managed just two touches in his official return from a serious foot injury before being rested.

"He pulled up fine. He got half a hitout to see how his progression is going," Lions coach Justin Leppitsch said.

"We will have a big discussion on whether he is ready for that (season opener) or one or two (weeks) after - we just have to do the right thing for his body."